Portugal ranks 18th worldwide in the EPI (Environmental Performance Index). It’s the highest ranking country in Southern Europe (Spain is 30, Italy 24, and Greece 44 for example), with the best performers being Switzerland at number one, followed by Sweden, Norway, and Finland. The United States’ high oil consumption brought it down to number 39, while in very last place, at number 149 is Niger due to its low water and sanitation quality. (Source: Newsweek).

But Portugal could do much better. Downtown Lisbon for example often seems more friendly to the automobile than to the pedestrian, and unlike many other European cities, there is still no limit or tolls for cars entering the very center of the capital. As a result, your eyes will see plenty of trees emitting O2 in Avenida da Liberdade, but your nose will most likely be receiving CO2 from the cars speeding down the avenue as they would down a highway. Yesterday a plan was announced that would soon charge a higher toll to cars carrying only one person entering Lisbon from the highways.  That would not solve the problem, but it’s a sign of a good start.

Then if you decide to go on a daytrip to the Arrabida Natural Park, try to overlook one of Portugal’s biggest environmental crimes, a cement factory in the middle of the vegetation of that beautiful park.

Despite that, the country seems to be on the right track, and if you happen to go up North through the A8 highway you’ll see plenty of power being produced by the wind on the hills surrounding it. Add the huge solar energy power station being created in the Alentejo province (the world’s biggest, said to be seen from space, covering about 250 hectares and capable of sustaining 130,000 households), and it seems Portugal’s got a very green future ahead of it.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 8th, 2008 at 10:10 am and is filed under Lisbon General, Portugal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.